Buildings most exposed to the pied-à-terre tax.
Editorial categorization of notable NYC condos and co-ops by their structural pied-à-terre tax exposure — based on reported ownership patterns and the building’s established shareholder culture, not on a unit-by-unit primary-residence audit (no such public dataset exists). The 2026 NYC pied-à-terre tax bills the building tax bill via the co-op corporation or the individual unit at the condo level, so understanding a building’s structural tilt helps frame both individual exposure and the building’s administrative load.
Four categories of structural exposure, based on reported ownership patterns and the building’s established shareholder culture. These are editorial assessments — not precise percentages, not direct claims about specific unit owners.
- Heavy pied-à-terre tilt: Buildings widely reported to be majority non-primary-resident ownership. Trophy Billionaires’ Row supertowers dominate this category. The pied-à-terre tax bill at these buildings will be substantial in aggregate.
- Significant pied-à-terre presence: Buildings with material pied-à-terre ownership alongside meaningful primary-residence shareholders. Mixed exposure creates more complex administrative dynamics for the board / managing agent.
- Mixed: Buildings with notable pied-à-terre presence but mostly full-time New Yorkers. The pied-à-terre tax affects a minority of units; administrative load is manageable.
- Primary-residence dominant: Buildings with strict primary-residence cultures (often pre-war Park and Fifth Avenue co-ops with substantial financial board posture). Pied-à-terre tax exposure is minimal.
Billionaires’ Row + downtown supertowers.
Buildings widely reported to be majority non-primary-residence. These will face the largest aggregate pied-à-terre tax bills and the most material administrative load.
Robert A.M. Stern's Billionaires' Row trophy. Ken Griffin's $238M penthouse is the public face of the tax. Substantial reported pied-à-terre and trust-held ownership across the unit count.
Rafael Viñoly's superscraper. Reports consistently identify substantial international and pied-à-terre ownership across the tower.
The first Billionaires' Row supertower. Heavy reported international and pied-à-terre ownership; one of the buildings most associated with the original pied-à-terre tax debate.
SHoP Architects supertower at the Steinway Tower. Limited unit count, heavily international ownership profile.
Jean Nouvel's downtown supertower above the Museum of Modern Art. Substantial pied-à-terre and trust ownership reported.
These buildings will face the largest aggregate pied-à-terre tax exposure starting July 1, 2026 — both because of the ownership tilt and because the price tier (trophy unit values) maps to the higher brackets. Once DOF revalues for tax year 2028-2029, exposure increases materially as DOF assessed values move toward sale prices.
Trophy buildings with mixed shareholder bases.
Material pied-à-terre ownership alongside meaningful primary-residence shareholders. The board / managing agent faces the most complex administrative dynamics here — collecting the surcharge from affected unit owners without disrupting building governance for unaffected shareholders.
Robert A.M. Stern's defining 21st-century luxury condo. Mixed ownership with substantial pied-à-terre presence but also meaningful primary-residence shareholders.
Herzog & de Meuron's downtown trophy. Mixed primary residence and pied-à-terre ownership; penthouse tier skews pied-à-terre.
Historic hotel-residential conversion. Substantial international ownership; mixed pied-à-terre and full-time residential.
Mixed-use condo above the retail and entertainment complex. Significant reported pied-à-terre ownership.
Heatherwick Studio's Chelsea condo. Mixed full-time residential and pied-à-terre; trophy units skew pied-à-terre.
Robert A.M. Stern's downtown white-glove condo. Hotel-adjacent service economy attracts pied-à-terre ownership; substantial primary-residence presence too.
Robert A.M. Stern Upper East Side condo. Mixed ownership profile; significant trust and pied-à-terre presence.
These buildings will need to develop a clear administrative posture on the pied-à-terre tax allocation before July 1, 2026 — affected unit owners pay the surcharge; unaffected primary-residence shareholders should not bear the cost through general maintenance increases. The board's approach matters.
Mostly primary-residence with some pied-à-terre.
Notable pied-à-terre presence but the shareholder base skews toward full-time New Yorkers. The pied-à-terre tax affects a minority of units; the building’s administrative load is manageable.
Robert A.M. Stern Upper East Side condo. Mostly primary residence with some pied-à-terre ownership.
Upper West Side condo tower. Mostly primary residence; some pied-à-terre ownership at higher floors.
Renzo Piano SoHo tower. Mixed ownership; pied-à-terre presence material but not dominant.
Tribeca condo conversion. Substantial pied-à-terre presence; celebrity-heavy ownership pattern.
Robert A.M. Stern Tribeca condo. Mixed primary residence and pied-à-terre.
TriBeCa condo conversion. Mostly primary residence with some pied-à-terre and trust ownership.
Rudin Family West Village condo. Mostly primary residence with meaningful pied-à-terre presence.
Pre-war Park, Fifth, and Central Park West co-ops.
Buildings with established primary-residence cultures, often with board postures that actively discourage pied-à-terre buyers (substantial DTI / liquidity requirements, board interview deference to long-term residential intent, shareholder cultures that prize being “in the building”).
Rosario Candela classic-six co-op. Strict primary-residence culture; substantial liquidity / DTI / board-package requirements deter pied-à-terre buyers. The board posture specifically discourages absentee shareholders.
McKim, Mead & White historic co-op. Strict primary-residence culture; trust ownership accepted but pied-à-terre tilt actively discouraged.
Rosario Candela classic co-op. Strict primary-residence culture; long-tenured multi-generational shareholders.
Henry Hardenbergh classic 1880s co-op. Famously strict board posture; substantially primary-residence; one of the most stringent boards in NYC for any buyer.
Emery Roth pre-war Central Park West co-op. Strong primary-residence culture; shareholders predominantly full-time New Yorkers.
Emery Roth pre-war Central Park West twin-tower co-op. Established primary-residence shareholder base.
Emery Roth pre-war Central Park West twin-tower co-op. Mix of celebrity and HNW primary-residence shareholders.
Pied-à-terre tax exposure at these buildings is minimal — most shareholders qualify for the primary-residence exemption, and the boards have effectively pre-selected for primary residents through their financial and interview screening. The administrative load on the building is correspondingly light.
Building selection in the post-pied-à-terre-tax era.
For pied-à-terre buyers
If your intended use is non-primary residence, the pied-à-terre tax exposure flows through regardless of which building you buy. But the building’s administrative posture will affect your experience — at a heavy-tilt building, the managing agent is set up to handle the allocation cleanly; at a primary-residence- dominant building, you may be one of very few affected units and the administrative path may be less established.
Pre-war co-op boards (740 Park, the Dakota, etc.) may also use the pied-à-terre tax framework as additional justification for board scrutiny of non-primary-resident buyer applications. Plan accordingly.
For primary-residence buyers
You qualify for the exemption — the tax doesn’t apply to your unit. But at a heavy-tilt building (220 CPS, 432 Park, etc.), the building’s aggregate tax bill will be substantial, and there’s a question of whether the corporation absorbs all the administrative cost or whether some of that flows back to all shareholders through general operating budget impact. Worth understanding before buying.
For sellers
At buildings where the pied-à-terre tax materially affects the marketability of inventory to non-resident buyers (which is most trophy condos), pricing dynamics may soften. The tax is a recurring annual cost that any non-resident buyer will factor into their offer.
- NYC pied-à-terre tax, explained → the full pillar covering brackets, exemptions, co-op administrative mechanism, and appeals.
- Pied-à-terre tax calculator → model the math on your specific scenario.
- Complete buildings catalog → editorial profiles on ~160 notable NYC buildings.
- Tax residency planning pillar → the broader NY exit conversation that contextualizes the pied-à-terre tax.
Considering a building with pied-à-terre exposure?
The building-specific diligence question on a pied-à-terre tax-exposed building: how is the board administering the tax, what’s the building’s aggregate exposure, and how does that affect your individual unit. A 30-minute consultation gets you the framework before contract.
